Howard County police shoot and kill 61-year-old knife-wielding man

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (WJLA) - Howard County police shot and killed a man Saturday morning whom they say was threatening police and at least one family member with knives.

The officer-involved shooting is the second in the past week in which police say they believe the citizen was suicidal.

Howard County police said in a statement that calls that came into 911 earlier that morning claiming that a man was in an Ellicott City home threatening the occupants with a knife was actually made by the suspect himself in an attempt to get police to come to the home, possibly because he was suicidal.

According to police, shortly after 6:30 a.m., officers responded to a home in the 5000 block of Montgomery Road after two calls came in to 911 claiming that a man was in the home threatening to kill the occupants with a knife.

Three officers arrived at the scene and said they were confronted by a man with a knife in the front yard. One officer attempted to tase the man, but the man was able to get away from them and run inside the home.

Officers said a few moments later, the man came back outside with a knife and threatened the officers again.

"The officers repeatedly ordered the man to drop the knife, but he continued toward them," police said in a statement. "Two officers fired their weapons, killing the suspect."

The 61-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A search found two large knives at the scene.

Officers said one other resident was found inside the home, uninjured.

Family members told police the man had been talking about suicide recently.

"Over the last five years, Howard County police have had five other shooting incidents, two fatal," a statement by police read. "In one non-fatal case last year, officers exchanged gunfire with a suspect who shot a police officer. Both the officer and suspect later recovered from their injuries."